The present invention relates to a feed apparatus for strip material. More particularly this invention concerns such a device for feeding strip material to an apparatus which glues this material to the edge of a flat workpiece, as in a plant where decorative wooden panels are manufactured.
In the manufacture of decorative lumber and the like the workpieces are first provided in their flat faces with decorative foils carrying a wood grain or similar decoration. Thereafter these workpieces in certain installations are passed through devices which glue to their narrow edges strip material of the same grain or decorative type. Normally in such operations the workpiece is displaced horizontally with the edge to which the strip is to be applied standing vertically.
In a well known feed apparatus for supplying the strip material to the glueing device a pair of rolls of the strip material are held horizontally next to each other. The strip from each of the rolls passes through a respective pair of rollers at least one of which is driven and then through a take-off guide constituted by a pair of spaced-apart channel-defining metal guides to a respective glueing device. When the one supply is exhausted the device switches over to the other supply for continuous operation. During use of the second supply it is possible for an operator to load a new supply of strip material into the first holder and thereby allow the assembly procedure to operate continuously.
A considerable disadvantage of this arrangement is that it is necessary for an operator to keep continuous watch over the device in order to replenish the rolls as they are used up, as in a fast operation a single roll of such a strip material can be used up in just a few minutes. Another disadvantage is that the feed apparatus must be completely reloaded each time the workpiece thickness or type changes. Thus if a run of different workpiece types is being manufactured it is necessary completely to reload the device. Such reloading entails the removal and unthreading of each of the rolls of strip material and placement of new rolls in their place, along with subsequent reinsertion of the free ends of these rolls into the respective take-off guides for the glueing devices.